Team Retreat/Sabolciu

This past weekend we went on our first ever team retreat! It was at a little village out in the country that some friends of ours let us use for the weekend. It was so fun to just relax and hang out and spend time talking about all that God has done in the past 3 months and what we feel He is leading us to in the next 3 months. The place was so beautiful! It was an old farm and is was just so neat to see what it's like to live very simply...it was refreshing. Not a whole lot of technology out on an old farm, there isn't even a sink to wash dishes in inside the house. There's only a large trough like thing that is connected to a well. Here are some pictures:



And to finish off the weekend with a bang...Kylie and I went to Sabolciu for the first time!!! Since Sabolciu was on the way home from the village we had stayed at for the weekend we figured now was as good a time as any.

We wanted to wait a while for the team and Matt to be a little more familiar with the people in Sabolciu before we brought Kylie in. I was a little hesitant at first, mainly because I've been sort of concerned about germs. There is no running water in the village, the livestock are really close to their houses (some of them have chickens and ducks that just sort of come and go inside their homes as they please) and the children pretty much run wild and I knew that they were going to want to play with and touch Kylie a lot...and they did. I definitely got a little nervous when I looked down at Kylie and the kids had taken her pacifier out of her mouth and were putting their fingers in her mouth instead ha ha! As funny as this sounds I suppose all those times I found Kylie with my shoe in her mouth it was just preparing her and me for Sabolciu fingers in her mouth ha ha. She hasn't gotten sick yet, praise the Lord!!!

All in all it was a great weekend and I was glad to make it into Sabolciu with the team. I was able to get a sense of where the people are at with the Lord and just see how they live. I know that I will be able to pray for them better now. I was most definitely moved with compassion for the women...they are all pretty young have at least 5 kids, and no husband around to help at all. I can't even imagine how difficult life is for these women, but it is just something they have become accustomed to. I know I have a lot to learn from them and look forward to doing so. Also I hope to be able to join Amy on Thursdays as she's been leading a women's Bible study with the women. It would be great to be able to connect with them and invest more in the miracles God is performing in their hearts! Here are some pictures: